Actor Terry Crews will participate in Super Bowl 2014 in several ways. One, he’ll costar with The Muppets in a car commercial that will air during the game. Two, he’ll costar in a post-game episode of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” the Fox sitcom that will follow “New Girl” (guest-starring Essence Festival headliner Prince) in the prime post-game time slots of 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Three, he’ll actually attend the game.

And though weather forecasts say that frigid weather won’t be a factor, Crews has a strategy to stay warm anyway.

“I'm going try to find a box to squeeze into and sponge off of some of my rich celebrity friends,” he said.

Of which there are many. In addition to “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Crews has roles in at least five upcoming films, including “The Expendables 3,” the latest installment in the born-in-New Orleans action franchise. His Old Spice TV commercials are a hit on TV and online (one YouTube compilation has more than 3 million views.) His book, “Manhood: How to Be a Better Man – Or At Least Live With One,” is due in May.

On TV, Crews has worked in sitcoms (“Everybody Hates Chris,” “Are We There Yet?”), reality (“The Family Crews”) and drama (“The Newsroom”). He says he’d love to host a talk show, too.

Funny, but there was a time when Crews would’ve been a candidate to participate in Sunday’s game in uniform. Drafted out of Western Michigan University as a defensive end in 1991, he played for several NFL teams before launching his acting career, which is clearly hitting some peaks at the moment.

“I tell people -- and this may sound crazy – never, ever kill yourself, because the next day your life could be totally different,” Crews said during the recent Winter TV Tour in Hollywood. “There was a time when I was wondering about giving things up. When you’re not working, you sit back and you wonder, ‘What's happening?’ You really just have to stay in the game.”

Crews said he was inspired to stay in the game during earlier career low points by his wife, Rebecca, who would give him what he termed “wake-up calls.”

“She would say, ‘Hey, Terry. You’ve got to try something else,’” he said. “And I was like, ‘You know, you’re right.’ I learned a long time ago that you have to just keep trying new things. If you don't like it, don't do it again.

“If I still had the attitude of not trying and not knowing, I would never be an actor today.”

Starring Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is poised, with the post-Super Bowl lead-in boost, to earn a bigger audience. Created by “Parks and Recreation” veterans Michael Schur and Daniel Goor, the show got pretty good reviews at launch and has gradually improved in quality if not audience-quantity.

It is not yet a hit, in other words, and not yet renewed for a second season.

Its two recent Golden Globes Award wins – for best TV series, musical or comedy, and for Samberg – haven’t hurt.

Crews, who appeared at the TV Tour the morning after the Globes wins – “I haven’t gotten any sleep,” he said. “That’s why I’m sitting down.” – said he had several prospective shows to pick from at this time last year, but chose “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” in part because of its “Parks and Recreation” lineage.

“‘Parks and Rec’ is one of my favorite shows of all time,” said Crews, who said he met with “Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s” creators and asked, “Where do I sign?”

“And then it's only a week later and they said, ‘We got Andy,’” her continued. “I said, ‘I’m in.’ And it was so wonderful. It was the right move. It was weird because this pilot season I had some choices. I had some choices, which was awesome. There were like three or four pilots coming at me, and I was like, ‘Wow.’

“It's funny. I know TV’s crazy, and I know all the hype on hearing how ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ won at the Golden Globes.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that I just have to work on what I do. Everything else, I can't control. And to enjoy it when it’s great and work on it when it's not. ‘Let's figure out a way to improve.’

“Our fans are rabid, but I remember ‘Arrested Development,’ a show I was happy to be a part of. Every year they got all the awards, but they could not get the (viewers). I'm really hoping that we can turn the corner with Fox and make sure we can get the viewership that comes along with our accolades.”